Katrina a threat for water and airborne diseases

[nnn1994]

Hello everyone!I greatly sympathize with the victims of Hurricane Katrina and also the relatives of the victims.When i saw the News at CNN i could not believe how the Hurricane destroyed everything. With great saddness, this incident is just a start of a greater problem that the state will have to dealt with..The stagnant dirty water, decaying bodies could easily harbor infectious diseases... In my opinion,Prevention and control plays a very vital role.I guess the Key here is people from other states should work together to rebuild

the 3 states that are greatly affected.I know that it is really hard since Water supply and electricity is unavailable..In Asia, this disaster happens every so often hundreds of thousands of people die of drowning getting burried alive,lost of homes and even more die of infectious diseases due to lack of resources or simply because these countries are considered "Third World".We have great resources in our Country "We are considered "1st World".It's a matter of pulling all our resources together...In my opinion, the disaster that we are all experiencing around the globe is due to Global Warming,I hope now we do realize the importance of Saving our Planet by Planting trees and protecting our home "Mother Earth " ..

[Antikigirl, ASN, RN]

With what I heard from the CDC is the biggest threat is really diseases that can be greatly controlled with santitation methods such as hand cleaning. Hard to do with no fresh water though!

Choleria is a threat down there, but like the epidemiologists say, nothing they don't have yearly! Their choleria isn't the neurotoxic variety...just typical GI complications that are self limiting in 72 hours. Those people really should be taken to an area of its own and dilligent sanitation procedures for folks touching or caring for them.

With people being in such close quarters now...eyes must be kept on all symptoms and universal precautions taken as much as they can given the circumstances. THe CDC even admitted that not much can really live in that water now...including many strains of bacteria or parasites...so a blessing I suppose...as long as NO ONE drinks that stuff!

What I fear is when things are dry..and people don't clean as they should (environment and self)....when the bacteria/fungus/viruses/parasites find this fresh new environment to live in....OUCH! That mud can be a potentially deadly nutrient rich killer! Efforts to get that stuff out of there is the priority (that and wood rot, dry wall rot, grout and concrete groves like in tiles or brick) must be sanitized fully!

The clean up will be a vital part of this all...hope they can do it properly!

[glascow]

We are educating ourselves on the West Nile Virus. With the amount of water that is standing, the number of mosquito-borne illnesses could skyrocket.

Also, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio damsela are the organisms commonly seen

in skin infections caused by exposure/infection from contaminated sea water

infections, but, don't forget about Vibrio cholerae and the AGE (acute

gastroenteritis) it causes.

Already seeing a few cases of Vibrio in the ICU. Very ugly!